Technical Relations Specialist Walt Ireland, WB7CSL, part of the ARRL's Technical Relations Office (TRO) in Washington, DC, retired from the League this past summer. Ireland came to ARRL in April 1997 from the Voice of America (VOA) where he was responsible for building HF radio broadcasting stations. While at the TRO, he participated in the preparation cycles for three World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRC) -- 2000, 2003 and 2007 -- and served as vice chair of the FCC Interim Working Groups that dealt with US proposals for HF broadcasting and amateur requirements.

At the request of the FCC and with the approval of then-ARRL Chief Technology Officer Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, Ireland accepted the Chairmanship of US Working Party-6E (which dealt with HF broadcasting) in 1997; he held this position until WRC-07 after which all US Working Party chairs were assigned to government employees. As Chairman of US Working Party-6E, he headed all of the US delegations to meetings at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland. While there, Ireland often chaired ITU-R Drafting Groups.

Ireland was selected to be Vice Chair of Informal Working Groups of the FCC's WRC Advisory Committees (WAC) in preparation for WRCs-03 and 07. He was also selected by the US Department of State to attend WRC-07 as a Technical Advisor.

Several of the major ITU-R issues Ireland participated in were the protection of 7 MHz from HF broadcasters, protection of the 70 cm band from European and NASA Synthetic Aperture Radars, Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) and Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) transmissions.

Ireland served as the chief instructor for ARRL Amateur Radio Administration Course for Regulators (ARAC), sponsored by the United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) for the past several years. He now resides in Nevada.